TheSapienza University of Rome[7] (Italian:Sapienza – Università di Roma), formally theUniversità degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply asSapienza ('Wisdom'), is apublicresearch university located inRome, Italy.[8] It was founded in 1303 and is as such one of the world's oldest universities,[9] and with 122,000 students, it is thelargest university in Europe.[10] Due to its size, funding, and numerous laboratories and libraries, Sapienza is a global major education and research centre.[11][12] The university is located mainly in theCittà Universitaria (University city), which covers 44 ha (110 acres) near the monumental cemeteryCampo Verano, with different campuses, libraries and laboratories in various locations in Rome.
Sapienza was founded on 20 April 1303 by decree fromPope Boniface VIII as aStudium for ecclesiastical studies under more control than the free-standing universities ofBologna andPadua. In 1431Pope Eugene IV completely reorganized the studium and decreed that the university should expand to include the four schools of Law, Medicine, Philosophy, in addition to the existing Theology. In the 1650s the university became known asSapienza, meaning "wisdom" or "knowledge", a title it still retains.[13] After thecapture of Rome by the forces of theKingdom of Italy in 1870,La Sapienza rapidly expanded as the chosen main university of the capital of the newly unified state. In 1935 the new university campus, planned byMarcello Piacentini, was completed.[14]
Sapienza teaches and conducts research in all pure and applied sciences and humanities. Sapienza houses 50 libraries with over 2.7 million books, most notably the Alessandrina University Library, built in 1667 byPope Alexander VII, housing 1.5 million volumes.[15] In addition it has 19 museums, a botanical garden, and three university hospitals.[16] Sapienza's alumni includes 10Nobel laureates,Italian prime ministers,one pope,Presidents of the European Parliament andEuropean Commissioners, as well as several notable religious figures, supreme court judges, and astronauts.[17]
Palazzo della Sapienza, former home of the university until 1935Church ofSant'Ivo alla Sapienza, originally the chapel and seat of the university library (until 1935)
The Sapienza University of Rome was founded in 1303 with thePapal bullIn Supremae praeminentia Dignitatis, issued on 20 April 1303 byPope Boniface VIII, as aStudium for ecclesiastical studies more under his control than the universities ofBologna andPadua,[18] making it the first pontifical university.[14]
In 1431Pope Eugene IV completely reorganized the studium with the bullIn supremae, in which he granted masters and students alike the broadest possible privileges and decreed that the university should include the four schools of Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Theology. He introduced a new tax on wine to raise funds for the university; the money was used to buy a palace which later housed theSant'Ivo alla Sapienza church.
However, the university's days of splendour came to an end during thesack of Rome in 1527, when the studium was closed, some of the professors were killed and others dispersed.[19]Pope Paul III restored the university shortly after his election to the pontificate in 1534.
In the 1650s the university became known as Sapienza, meaning wisdom, a title it retains. In 1703, with his private funds,Pope Clement XI purchased some land on theJaniculum, where he created a botanical garden, which soon became the most celebrated in Europe through the labours of the Trionfetti brothers. The first complete history of the Sapienza University was written in 1803–1806 byFilippo Maria Renazzi.[20]
University students were newly animated during the 19th-century Italian revival. In 1870,La Sapienza stopped being the papal university and became the university of the capital of Italy. In 1935 the new university campus, planned byMarcello Piacentini, was completed.
On 15 January 2008 theVatican cancelled a planned visit to La Sapienza University byPope Benedict XVI who was to speak at the university ceremony launching the 2008 academic year[21] due to protests by some students and professors.[22] The title of the speech would have been 'The Truth Makes Us Good and Goodness is Truth'.[23] Some students and professors protested in reaction to a 1990 speech that Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) gave in which he, in their opinion, endorsed the actions of the church againstGalileo in 1633.[14][21]
The new campus of Rome University, built in 1935 byMarcello Piacentini, in a 1938 pictureEntrance of "La Sapienza" University of Rome
Sapienza University has many campuses in Rome, but its main campus is theCittà Universitaria (University city), which covers 44 ha (110 acres) near theRoma Tiburtina Station. The university has satellite campuses outside Rome, the main one of which is inLatina.
In 2011 a project was launched to build a campus withresidence halls nearPietralata station, in collaboration with theLazio region.[24] To cope with the ever-increasing number of applicants, the Rector also approved a new plan to expand theCittà Universitaria, reallocate offices and enlarge faculties, as well as create new campuses for hosting local and foreign students.
The Alessandrina University Library[25] (Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina), built in 1667 byPope Alexander VII, is the main library housing 1.5 million volumes; it has some important collections includingcollezione ciceroniana andFondo Festa.
Villa Mirafiori: aNeo-Renaissance palace built during the 19th century, some rooms are decorated with fine frescoes. The Department of Philosophy is located in this building.
Sapienza University of Rome is one of the three institutions that, in 2022, contributed to the founding of theCentro MedioEvA. Founded by Donatella Manzoli (Sapienza University) and Elisabetta Bartoli (University of Siena), the Centre brings together a group of specialists inmedieval literatures from theUniversity of Siena, Sapienza University, and theUniversity of Tours. This entirely new cultural initiative aims to promote, coordinate, and carry out research activities, projects, printed publications, and digital resources on literature composed in Latin and in the vernacular languages by women during the medieval millennium (6th–15th centuries).
Adopting a multidisciplinary and comparative approach, MedioEvA seeks to investigate women’s literatures and the cultural role of women within the medieval world, challenging deeply rooted yet anachronistic stereotypes. MedioEvA also aims to explore both the objective and subjective perceptions of women across the centuries of theMiddle Ages, and—through the tools ofphilological andliterary criticism—it fosters studies, critical editions, editions of unpublished works, and translations of texts that have either never been translated or are in need of new renderings.
MedioEvA also aspires to serve as a key platform for disseminating and promoting this little-known body of literature beyond the narrow circle of specialists, acting as a promoter of initiatives that seek to convey an updated understanding of the cultural role of medieval women and of theMiddle Ages as a whole (such as student outreach, teacher training, and participation in cultural festivals). Knowledge of women’s literatures will enrich the contours of the Middle Ages, which forms the recognised foundation of our present.[26]
Among the scholarly works supported by the Centro MedioEvA, two notable examples are the volumesScrittrici del Medioevo. Un'antologia[27] andGenere e generi. Scritture di donne nell'Europa medievale[28].
Since the 2011 reform, Sapienza University of Rome has eleven faculties and 65 departments. Today Sapienza, with 140,000 students and 8,000 among academic and technical and administrative staff, is the largest university in Italy. The university has significant research programmes in the fields of engineering,natural sciences,biomedical sciences andhumanities. It offers 10 Masters Programmes taught entirely in English.[citation needed]
In 2016, the Center for World University Rankings ranked the Sapienza University of Rome as the 90th in the world and the top in Italy in itsWorld University Rankings.[39]
According to the QS Graduate Employability Ranking 2020, Sapienza places first amongst Italian universities in Alumni Outcomes thanks to the number of university graduates employed in large companies and in managerial positions.[40]
In 2024, Sapienza University of Rome ranked 134th in the world inQS World University Rankings.[41] Sapienza is ranked 1st in the world byQS World University Rankings in the subject of Classics and Ancient History.[42] In the same ranking, Sapienza ranks 10th in the subject Archaeology.[43] Sapienza is ranked 36th in the subject Physics & Astronomy,[44] 39th in Arts and Humanities[45] and 70th in Psychology.[46]
To cope with the large demand for admission to the university courses, some faculties hold a series of entrance examinations. The entrance test often decides which candidates will have access to the undergraduate course. For some faculties, the entrance test is only a means through which the administration acknowledges the students' level of preparation. Students that do not pass the test can still enroll in their chosen degree courses but have to pass an additional exam during their first year.[citation needed]
Italian Minister of Labor and Social Policies, President of the Italian Statistical Institute (Istat). Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics Directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Professor of Economic Statistics.
Deputy Secretary General at theOECD in Paris, and their chief economist. OECD 's G20 Finance Deputy, leads the initiatives 'Strategic Response', 'Green Growth' and 'Innovation'. Italy's finance minister
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